Suspenders.



Patented Jan. I, l90l. 8.. WEAVER. v

SUSPENDERS.

(Application filed Oct. 8, 1900*) (No Model.)

| new: :0. Fnoraurum WASHINGTON NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

SUSPEND'ERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 665,043, dated January 1, 1901.

Application filed October 8, 1900. Serial No. 32,432. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK S. WEAVER, a. citizen of the United States, residing at Mount Holly, in the county of Burlington and'State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Suspenders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to suspenders; and the object of the same is to provide a simple and effective arrangement of a strong and durable nature and wherein the webs are permitted to have a self-stretching action to a certain extent without employing elastic material of any character in the make-up of any portion of the suspenders; also, to have the said Webs provided with permanent buckletongue openings within the extent of the adjustment of the buckles of the front ends, and also to obtain a thorough ventilation throughout the length of the webs withoutimpairing their strength.

The invention primarily consists of a plurality of interlaced or interconnected leather links, each link having a pair of openings and all the links when connected having regular lines of openings thereby provided for ventilating purposes and for adj ustment of the buckle-tongues of the front Suspender-ends Within any desired extent longitudinally of the webs, the loose interlock of the links also permitting the webs to yield longitudinally, with obvious advantages in the use of suspenders.

The invention further consists in the construction and arrangement of the several parts, which will be more fully hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a pairof suspenders embodying the features of the invention. Fig. 2 isa section on the line 2 2, Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a section on the line 3 3, Fig. 1. Fig. 4: is a'detail plan view of an intermediate connector for portions of the suspenders. Fig. 5 is a detail plan view of the rear end section for the improved suspenders. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the blank from which the links are formed.

Similar numerals of reference are employed to indicate corresponding parts-in the several views.

The numeral 1 designates the webs or shoulder-straps, which are made up of a series of leather links 2, primarily constructed in blank form, as shown by Fig. 6. Each link comprises a body 3, with openings 4 therein in transverse alinement, and two legs 5, provided by a longitudinally-extending elliptical opening 6 and also formed with terminal openin gs 7 in transverse alincment with each other and in longitudinal alinement with the openings 4. In interlacing the links thus formed the blank of one is doubled upon itself until the openings 4 and 7 coincide, and the legs 5 of another link are then passed through the said openings, the second link doubled similarly to the first one, and the legs 'of a third link passed through the coinciding openings thereof, and so through the whole series of links. The doubled terminal links 8 at the free ends of the webs or shoulder-straps are stitched as shown, and the openings therein are left unengaged for the attachment of drawer-holding or other devices.

The coinciding openings 4 and 7 are not filled when the links are interlaced, and by this means parallel lines of openings are formed in each web for the adjustable reception of the pairs of tongues 9 of the buckles 10 for supporting the front sus'pender-ends 11, and when the said tongues are arranged as shown the greatest bearing pressu re thereof will be against a thickened wall at the lower portion of each opening, as shown by Fig. 2, and provided by the coinciding leg and body extremities and the doubled portion of the next link below, and thus a reinforced construction will result to resist wear and any tendency toward tearing out the lower portion of the link engaged by the buckle-tongues, no matter what the pulling or weight strain may be. The rear ends of the webs or shoulder straps are attached to an intermediate connector 12, toward which they are converged, the said connector being?- broadened at the upper extremity and con verged toward its lower end and having parallel lines of central openings 13 the same distance apart in a transverse direction as the openings 4 and 7 of the links. per portion of the said connector also has outer openings 14 at a distance'from the uppermost pair of openings 13 equal to that between the latter openings, and in referring to the upper and lower ends of the connector it will be understood that the connector is The up- I considered as to position in use, so as to better demonstrate the advantages of the particular arrangement in acquiring strength in the complete structure. The connector has a length 15 of interlaced or interlocked links similar to the webs or shoulder-straps, and the upper end of the said length is securely attached to the said connector by having the legs of the several links passed through the openings 13 in addition to the openings 4: and 7, and thus a portion of the links of the length 15 inclose the center of the connector, as clearly shown by Fig. 3. The inner legs of the rearmost links of the webs or shoulderstraps are passed through the upper openings 13 of the connector and through the openings 4 and 7 of the uppermost link of the said length 15 to hold said latter link in secured position, and the outer legs of said rearmost links of the webs are passed through the openings 14 of the said connector, the latter openings being at a downward angle relatively to the plane of the upper openings 13 to compensate for the convergence of the webs or straps toward the connector.

The lower link of the length 15 and the link next above the lowermost one are connected to the upper end of the rear suspenderend 16 in a manner similar to the attachment of the links to the connector, the upper portion of said end 16 having pairs of openings 17 in vertical and transverse alinement and at a distance apart also equal to that of the openings 4 and 7 of the links, and it will be observed that the particular mode of arranging the links of the length 15 and of the shoulder-straps as set forth completely overcomes any necessity for other fastening means with a much stronger result. Moreover, the introduction of the length 15 between the connector and the end 16 also provides yielding means at this point independent of the webs or shoulder-straps themselves, and a portion of the strain is also thus removed from direct influence on the latter straps.

The openings throughout the length of the webs or straps and in the length 15 also provide for a thorough ventilation of the portions of the body of the wearerover which the suspenders extend, and though the preferred arrangement is shown it will be understood that changes in the proportions, size, and minor details may be resorted to without departing from the principle of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is 1. A pair of suspenders having webs or shoulder-straps made up of a plurality of interlaced leather links with transverselyalined distinct pairs of separated openings, connecting ends for said webs or straps, and buckles having pairs of tongues to adj ustably engage the said openings and carry the front connecting ends, the links at the lower portions of the pairs of openings producing an increased wearing thickness.

2. A pair of suspenders having webs or shoulder-straps made up of a plurality of interlaced leather links, a rear connector having a plurality of openings through a portion of which the rear terminal links of the webs or straps are passed, a length of links also attached to the connector, a rear suspender-end connected to said length, and front suspender-ends on the webs or straps.

3. A pair of suspenders having webs or shoulder-straps made up of a plurality of interlaced leather links,each link having abody with opposite transversely-alined openings and separated legs with similar terminal openings transversely alined to each other and longitudinally alined in relation to the open-.

ings of the body, the said links being doubled and the legs of one passed through the coinciding openings of the other throughout the whole series, and connecting ends at opposite extremities of the said webs or straps.

4. A pair of suspenders having webs or shoulder-straps made up of a plurality of inelastic links, a rear connector with which the rear terminal links of the webs or straps are also interlaced, and suspender-ends attached to the front portions of the webs or straps and the connector.

5. A pair of suspenders made up of a plurality of inelastic links and having a longitudinal yielding movement, a rear connector attached to said webs or straps, front suspender-ends connected to the webs or straps, a rear snspender-end, and a length between the connector and rear Suspender-end composed of a similar series of interlaced links, the terminal links of said length being also respectively interlaced in relation to the connector and rear Suspender-end.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FRANK S. WEAVER.

WVitnesses:

' E. M. DURAND,

E. S. BROWN. 

